German newspaper Die Welt yesterday reported in a World War II retrospective that “most independent historians agree that the forces of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) under Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) led the fight against Japan” in China.
Most of the fighters in China’s War of Resistance Against Japan were not seen at China’s celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the victory over Japan, the report said.
“Because they are Nationalists, they do not fit into the communist worldview,” it said.
The report quoted interviews with some World War II veterans, including 97-year-old Sun Yinbo (孫蔭柏), who once worked as an interpreter for the “Flying Tigers” squadron.
According to Sun, “the Chinese Communist Party [CCP] did not fight against Japan. They have made up many historical events afterward and those stories are all invented.”
Stressing that Chiang’s forces suffered great losses facing the Japanese army’s “Ichi-go” offensive of 1944, and most of the civilian victims were in areas controlled by the Nationalists, the report suggested that although Beijing did not completely deny the Nationalists’ contribution to the victory, it has nevertheless trivialized it.
Questioning the date that Beijing picked for the official celebrations marking the victory over Japan, the report said: “China celebrated victory over Japan on Sept. 3, although just one day before, Tokyo had officially surrendered. During the celebrations, it was not mentioned that Japan surrendered aboard a US warship and that Chiang was the Supreme Commander of the Allies for the Chinese mainland, and thus one of the victors of the war.”
The report said that the CCP’s version of World War II history is based on the view that the CCP had called first for a resistance fight against Japan, and at that time, the Nationalists were still waiting, preparing the nation for the forthcoming conflict.
Its account barely mentions that CCP leader Mao Zedong (毛澤東) spent the war safely in the remote province of Shaanxi, the report said.
Referring to the CCP propaganda that the communists played an important role in creating the post-World War II world order, the report said that a film made by the Chinese military portraying Mao as a key player during the Cairo Conference of 1943 was entirely fictitious.
“At the conference, [then-] British prime minister Winston Churchill, US president Franklin Roosevelt and Nationalist Generalissimo Chiang took part. Mao was not there and had no influence on what was happening,” the report said.
It added that the CCP “has good reason to hold on to its strange version of history to legitimize its rule, especially at a time when social inequality is growing, the economy is paralyzed and demands for democratic openness are frustrated.”
University of Hong Kong historian Frank Dikotter was quoted as saying that “the [CCP] has no mandate from the people and, therefore, facts must be twisted, truth censored and history manipulated.”
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